Please everybody Vote to get us back in the top 2!!

We really need to get as many people as possible to vote DAILY until the 30th to win the grant that will help rebuild our elementary school! Please help if you have a minute go here:

www.refresheverything.com/bengilelementary
Thanks for your help and pass this on to get us as many votes as possible in the couple days that remain!!

New Blogwear

Well at long last I've finally made a banner and background for my blog. It's been a long time coming but I just haven't had tome to work on it and the times that i did, I got frustrated by the coding when I'd follow all instruction on how-to sites and nothing would show up right. Finally I have it down pat.
Now on to other things like my Artfire shop. Giving up Etsy in favor of Artfire, as they don't nickel and dime you to death on each and every listing. Then I can concentrate on a new site with database and proper cart.
Guess the graphics classes are paying off. But I still have a long way to go.

No new soaps lately, but I've been making pressed makeup and lipsticks and having great fun with those.

Colorado "safe" personal care products Bill fails in committee! Yay

Excerpt from Winged Seed's blog: "I’m tipping my hat to colleagues who joined me in blogging, tweeting, emailing and shouting “Stop” to the potential affects of this bad bill. The bill failed in Committee today 7 to 4. Some Colorado legislators reported they had received up to 700 emails regarding the bill. I listened to streaming radio from the hearing and those on our side were far more aware of the facts than either the representative from Compact for Safe Cosmetics or some of their small business supporters and individuals who testified. Although learned in his field and knowledgeable regarding environmental toxins and endocrinology, Dr. David Norris, PhD, Deptartment of Physiology, University of Colorado, was not well versed in cosmetics themselves nor skin absorption and allowable dilutions and was a weak proponent of the bill as a result."

Well, we all worked hard to get the word spread and thanks to everyone who helped.
Things like this should be based on real science, not supposition and hasty conclusions.


Leann

Your Personal choices are in danger! Take ACTION!

If you live in Colorado you have some looming legislation that comes up for discussion this coming Monday, March 1. This legislation, in a nutshell, to include formulators of organic or natural soap & cosmetics, will curtail your ability to operate. Additionally, should this legislation get passed, this legislation gives individuals in the state of Colorado the ability and license to sue any manufacturer of products that contain ingredients that quality for banning by the bill. March 1, this coming monday, is the day set aside for anyone to dispute this bill, submit arguments why it should not pass, or lobby for a more reasoned approach. If passed as is, Colorado citizens will be the enforcers not the state. Rewards upwards of $5,000 and $10,000 will ensure that the cosmetic products landscape in Colorado will be come the Wild Wild West, with attorneys being the greatest benefactor of this legislation. Enforcement will consist of simply suing the companies that are making products using ingredients that would qualify as banned. This includes MANY essential oils as well as many many perfectly safe cosmetic ingredients, cosmetic colors, etc.

Here is a shortlinks:
Cosmetic Design: http://tinyurl.com/yffy6a5

The Bill sponsors are using bad science, anecdotal evidence, and mass hysteria to give veracity and traction to the proposed bill. Lawmakers don't have to be genius's to get elected, and can propose legislation that is completely out of their depth of knowledge. As Thomas Jefferson said though, when govt does something that is so intolerable to cause harm to the people it is supposed to protect, it is not just our right to step in and work to stop it, but it is also our DUTY. The Personal Care Products Council will be there on March 1st to challenge and oppose this bill also.

I'm going to post info that both Colorado residents and non residents can use to contact legislators on this matter.

Contact info for you Colorado State Rep:
http://www.leg. state.co. us/Clics/CLICS2010A/csl.nsf/directory?openframeset
In case that wraps: http://tinyurl.com/ya85s6r

Betty Boyd is the Senate sponsor
Dianne Primavera is the House sponsor phone 303-866-4667
Dennis Apuan phone 303-866-3069
Karen Middleton phone 303-866-3911
Joe Miklosi Cap phone 303-866-2910

Link to the Bill in full
http://tinyurl.com/yddants

Link to follow and track changes are they are made:
http://tinyurl.com/yg37ro7 Toggle the selector at the top to the House Bills 1201 - 1250 and then scroll down to 1248

More links to learn more
Essential Wholesale blog: http://tinyurl.com/yjpd3l3
Robert Tisserand : http://roberttisserand.com/2010/02/tunnel-vision/

In anycase, if you live in Colorado, I urge you to make your voice heard, and as loudly as you can. The rest of use can also voice our opposition based on the idea that if this sort of thing passes in one state, than other states have an easier time getting something similar passed there also.
(the above thanks to Kelly Bloom of Southern Soapers)

The New Year is almost here!

Along with launching the new business name and labels under Wild Sense, I also decided to embark upon a Raw Food diet. Not a diet per se, but as a way of eating, period. Having too many problems with inflammation and joint pain to continue along the way I am. (Thanks, Dianne).

Here are a couple more pics of the new product "look" which have already been posted in my Facebook soaps album but for those who haven't yet seen them I'm reposting here.

Happy Holidays

I finished with the new label design and have several fresh batches yummylicious whipped sugar body scrubs all ready for holiday gift sets. I used to make a denser version, but now I find that both my customers and my family prefer the lighter whipped formula. Too bad you can't quite see all the gorgeous label background detail in these pics. There's a soft leafy pattern on aged paper as a backdrop to everything else and in person they look even better. Hustling to get all my last minute holiday baskets made up and I'm already planning and starting batches for Valentine's Day. Wait til you see those!

On the family front, we're spending Wednesday making Yule Log cakes and I can hardly wait to decorate those. Meringue mushrooms, marzipan pinecones, holly & berries...what fun!! Check back because I'll post pics of those Wednesday night when they're done.

New Look for Green Goddess Gal

Since the business name has changed to Wild Sense aromatics, it made sense to change the blog so I've just designed a whole new layout template for it. Ditto for a new label look for us; I really like this and want to publicly thank Bobbi Smith of Secret Garden Creations for the use of her lovely graphics that I've used liberally throughout the blog and my product label designs. I'll be featuring her on my GreenGoddessDesign blog, which is in the process of being birthed as well.

Now, after I take care of some health issues I will be working full time to get my new website up with new database features and CRE cart (finally), thanks to Lori at Dazzling Hosting.

**edit** I almost forget to mention the pretty Leafy Fae on my header was created by LadyAnne's Inspired Designz. Remember if you are looking to use any graphics from these scrapbooking sites, for anything other than personal scrapbooking use (ie for your combo personal and biz blog like this one, or a website, labels, or even to make a scrapbook, brochure, or blog for somebody else) then you MUST either buy graphics that are sold for CU, or get CU(commercial use) permission from the designers! Many of them sell CU items, but not all do. They will be clearly marked in the terms of use on each site. It can't get said too often- Don't be a pirate- these talented people deserve any and all recognition for what they do.

More Design fun, new Soaps, Crafty bliss!

I've been on yet another creative kick lately. Being sick has left me no choice but to sit with my laptop on the couch or in bed for hours, playing mostly with digital designs and honing my skills to work up to selling my designs at some point. I have such a blast working with PSP, I have Photoshop, but only on my desktop cpu and these days I seem to avoid that in favor of the trusty laptop that goes everywhere. I'm curious about other design programs, such as InDesign, so I'll be looking into that at some point. I'm sure to have a great time learning!

Soap has been on the back burner while ill, but I have plans to make some different cream soaps and I also need to get some richer winter skin creams ready as well. I have several new Winter themed soaps, and plan to make quite a few more batches this week. But, due to health constraints, I will only be doing one show in Nov and that will be the Litchfield Festival of the Trees. More about that even will be announced at a later date. I played last night with my Frostbitten soap pics (I plan to use these for holiday gifts) . I used a bunch of pretty elements from jtsDesigns Digital scrap collection, and I think I'm going to have to spend part of today making a Holiday soap album because this is so much fun to do. (thanks to Scrapitsassy.com and this wonderful designer http://jtsdesigns.blogspot.com/).

I have been so lax in taking pics of everything that alas, some of my prettiest soaps are gone and I'll have no visual record of them until I recreate them once again. LOL, that's like giving birth, so they will be back.

I had hoped that by this time I'd have my new soap biz launched and the whole new name and concept done, but after getting ill yet again, I decided to just sloooooow everything way down and just play. Now that I have taken all pressure off myself, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted. The business can wait for me, and I'll get back into it at a later date. For now, I'll continue as always to make soaps and skincare for myself, family and friends and a couple of regular here and there.

Delving into Digital Scrapbooking

I've been trying to do something with all of my family photos, so I have plans this winter to make albums and scan as many as possible so I can also make digital albums.
I found this nifty little site with a free scrapbooking program, I thought I'd try out, although I also use Paint Shop Pro. I'll see how I like it and post my results here at some point.


I've been exploring a lot of the digital scrap booking sites, such as Groovy Scraps, Scrap It Sassy, Scrapbook-Bytes, Scrappin' Digi Kreations, to name a few. Fun stuff this is.
There is a treasure trove of freebies as well as commercial use and designer scraps out there.

The planetary Meditations Aromatherapy line

Just wanted to remind all you mountain dwellers to visit the Celebrations Metaphysical Fair in Denver September 4, 5 & 6

Fri 1 pm - 9 pm
Sat 10 am - 7 pm
Sun 10 am - 6 pm

at the
Denver Merchandise Mart

and be sure to check out Holistic Mountain's new line of exclusive aromatherapy products created by GreenGoddess

Planetary Meditations

As promised, here are some pics of my newest creation for my friend. I've done planet embedded soaps before, but I've never tried to make them quite as three dimensional and these just took my breath away when I cut them!

Crystal Cluster Soaps

Several orders included my Crystal Soaps this month, so I've been making quite a few of these. I had offered these many years back and they weren't popular but suddenly there are quite a few sites out there selling something along these lines. However, I personally strive to create the look of a real mineral cluster, with striations, inclusions and even a bit of clay in the base. It's all about the layering which in fact can take as many as 5-6 pours for EACH soap. Are they labor intensive, yes! But they're each a work of art that I'm proud to show. The larger ones are made using a silicone mold, but I also make and hand cut other gem point chunks and will soon be offering those in my Etsy shop. Currently, I make Ruby, Amethyst, Fluorite, Rose Quartz, Citrine, Emerald, Clear Quartz and Celestite in the Crystal Cluster Soaps. My photography doesn't do these justice; their facets sparkle and shine when you're up close and personal. I am fervently hoping that people will buy these not only because they're decorative but because they will use them as soap! They're really not meant to stand on display for more than a month or two, since they're rich in glycerin and aloe which can seep if they are left unwrapped. UV light can also lead to some yellowing of the soaps, but alas, they are meant to be used up after all!

The next ones I'm offering will be Geodes. Again, each is handmade in layers, colored with micas, minerals, oxides and clays. I'm still in the designing process with these, and I must confess I'm a bit torn as to whether or not I should use some sort of half globe mold to pour the layers or if I should continue to mold and dip by hand. During the slower months of January and February, I will be putting up several soapmaking tutorials on this blog. Your comments and ideas are always welcome!

Stay tuned for a sneak peek at some Planetary Soaps coming to this blog soon And for a real treat, try "The Planetary Meditations" 3 CD & Book Set By Michelle Many

This beautiful set of 14 journeys to the celestial bodies in our solar system will help to heal emotional and physical issues even old traumas and help to create new mind sets through cool stories that are set to smooth jazz. Michelle has skillfully integrated several healing modalities including planetary frequencies that will begin to resonate through our bodies and energy fields bringing us to a higher resonance thus causing us to create from a higher frequency where lower emotions and situations do not exist. Create with love and respect by simply pushing play and letting the healing begin.

(*edited and re-published due to spacing errors)

Lavender Herb Beadwork

Well this is my first attempt at making beads with herbs (no clay) and I am thrilled with the outcome! I did buff them somewhat but not to a shine, as I wanted them as natural as possible.

With my next batch I'm going to see if I can use my pro bead roller to make the beads more uniform, since I'm not so hot with the freehand rolling. Too bad you all don't have Smell-o-Monitors because these babies smell utterly divine! Much thanks to Tina Sams of The Essential Herbal for the initial kit - buy yours here Herb Bead Making Kit and while you're there don't forget to subscribe to The Essential Herbal Magazine. I eagerly await my next one!

Feeling Creative

Firstly, I have to show off my beautiful new Leaf business card holder and Leaf soap dish that I found on Etsy from Pinoak Pottery. Wonderful stuff! Look how cute my cards are in there! Be sure to check out her other wares ;)

I've been in a very creative kind of mood and have been playing around with making beads and jewelry from herbs. Yes herbs. First of all let me tell you I am on an amber kick and nothing smells better to me than a good amber blend. So with that in my head, my first thoughts were to just hot pierce some amber resin chunks and frankincense tears and make a necklace. Well, if you know me, you know there's nothing I enjoy more than reading and researching stuff, so, one thing led to another and before you know it I was experimenting with all kinds of herbal materials. Dug out an old book that I remembered seeing something about rose beads in. They had an excellent article on how to make rose petal beads (it's actually more like rose mush at first). Then I thought to myself, Self, you can do this with petals, and any other herbs that smell good if they're powdered first. I played a bit more last night and went to bed with visions of all the cool new but still imaginary creations dancing around in my head. Woke up still feeling that ol' creative buzz and today is going to be official "Herb Bead Making Day" chez moi. If anybody else makes these I'd appreciate any input. Most of the older tutorials say use flour but I'm using a blend of flour and cornstarch...once they've dried they'll be buffed with a fine nail buffer to polish and then rubbed in a little bit of EO to match.

Anything else I should try or is it really that simple? I did manage to find Katie, an Etsy artisan(of course where else) creating gorgeous herb bead jewelry for inspiration - give her a look at Black Star's Shop. When I grow up I want to make beads like hers. Please email me or comment here and don't be afraid to pipe up and leave your two cents!

Get Your Kicks....

Benld Adopt-A-Pet will be at the

"Cruisin' Route 66" festival in Litchfield on

Friday, June 26 & Saturday, June 27th.

Visit their booth while you attend the bands,

foods, contests and of course... the great cars!

They will have lots of great "Rt. 66" and cat

and dog themed items for sale, in addition to

a raffle or two! All the proceeds benefit the shelter.

Click here for more info.

It was a fun weekend for all at the Litchfield EarthDay festivities and Jubelt's Strawberry Festival Days. Since our main website is still under construction, we have made a one page site that features our Etsy Shop in miniature. What a clever idea these Etsians had! Now you can shop my Etsy store either directly from http://www.greengoddessherbals.etsy.com/ OR from the actual Green Goddess website. It doesn't get an easier than this, folks.

So far again this year our most popular seller is our Honey soap. We've called it Fairy Nectar in the past, but we revamped it a bit this year and renamed it Wylde Honey. Running a close second is our Flower Face a lovely Ylang Ylang/Geranium esential blend. Third runner up is a fragranced soap--our GreenGreenGrass--oh my, what a fresh herbal clean scent!

We'll be listing many more soaps and other skincare items in our Etsy shop throughout this week so be sure to keep checking in on us!

Big weekend coming up for May 16th & 17th!

Just a reminder about next week's Strawberry theme at Jubelt's where they will be grillin' out and have all sorts of strawberry yummies on sale...http://jubelts.com/holidays.htm
and we'll be there with our soaps and of course the special Whipped Berry Soap pictured below too!

Strawberry Festival at Jubelt's Bakery May 16th & 17th

Yes, Green Goddess will have a soap vending table at Jubelt's on Sat 5/16 and Sun 5/17 on Route 66 in Litchfield, as well as having a booth on Sat 5/16 at the Earth Day Event 2009 at the Litchfield Community Center!

We'll be featuring a special edition bar At the Earth Day Event, the proceeds of which will go to Adopt-A-Pet Shelter. The focus there will be on our Botanical Soap line, made with herbs, essential oils and plant extracts. Carrotseed Soap, TomatoBasil Soap. RoseHip Soap, Ginko Soap and more.

At Jubelt's we will be featuring our well-loved "Berry Delightful Whipped Soap", which is a dollop of whipped soap, filled with soap strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, and drizzled with strawberry soap syrup!! It's been by far the most popular soap we have ever made. Of course, we'll also feature a well-rounded selection of our Botanical, Vegan and assorted Fragranced soaps as well. If you're local, make sure to stop by one or the other or BOTH!

Missing old friends

Well folks, I finally broke down and got myself a Facebook page. So that means I'm on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo 360, Mobile texting and Google Blogger, as well as developing my GreenGoddess website. Guess you could say I'm connected enough for now. But there are so many friends I've lost touch with over the years, it's been difficult trying to find them all. Alas, I am shaking myself out of my reverie and back to the present where a lot of luxurious oils and butters are calling to me, telling me that I need to make them into some wonderful new soaps!

(this is an older post that has been edited to remove name content)

May 16th Earth Day Festival in Litchfield

It's planned for a bit after Earth Day, but better late than not at all. The Green Goddess will have a vendor booth at the festivities at the Community Center in downtown Litchfield, IL on May 16th. Specific hours will be announced soon, but we expect to be there all day. LOTS of fun activities and events going on so be there to celebrate with us! We'll post a list of other businesses/activities that day as we find out more about them and what they have up their sleeves for this special day!

We have made up many new Spring soaps and other items, so be sure to stop by our booth! We're also creating a super-special Earth Day Soap and plan to donate a hefty portion of each bar's sale for our feline friends at our local Adopt A Pet Shelter. Drop us a line or give us a call if you have any questions or special requests. Happy Earthday :)

Blooming Magnolias and other Inspirational Signs of Spring

I just adore this time of year, when the magnolia trees start to blossom and you can smell the flowers instead of just the wet dirt. I have daffodils coming up in the front yard, and many new plants started in the house that are almost ready to be hardened off outside. Thankfully, my neighbor has a lilac bush, as I do not, and I'm looking forward to getting a sniffer full of that delicious odor. I'm having hubby upload this blog while I'm away, so I can get a pic of the pretty new Lilac soap up. Cheers to Spring everybody!

Spring has Sprung

Enjoying the day with my hubby, relaxing after some Tai Chi, and having a vanilla coffee. I feel so good today that I just want to accomplish a million things before the aches & pains come back again! It's rough when you have so many things you want to do, but can't on any given day. With fibromyalgia you just never know how you're going to feel. Today I could make coffee and lift the pot without grimacing, so that's a good thing! We're going out for a nice walk in the springtime air- it got warm again today and it's making us feel frisky and energized.

Last night was so much fun- we all decided to put some color in our hair (temporary punky kind). Hubby has the nice straight silky Native American hair so I had to bleach the strands first and then we did a few dark blue streaks. He likes it. Son wanted so green but we didn't have any so we bleached his tips and did some blue, he rinsed early and it's more of a teal. Mine of course with hair that's blonde and will suck up any color willingly now has beautiful turquoise streaks. They will be fun and go well with my new spring turquoise skirts and tops.

I decided this is MY color this summer. It makes me feel pretty and feminine, and somehow brighter if you know what I mean.

One of my devious plans is to do some fantasy makeup and put on my fairy wings and take pics for my website so I can be the Green Fairy. Tee hee, now that will be a fun project! :)

I just finished splitting a bunch of Madagascar Vanilla Pods to make REAL vanilla extract. They will have to basically marinate in the alcohol for a couple of months before it's ready but once done it is absolutely the most AMAZING vanilla. I also add a bit of Agave syrup to sweeten, as it has a low glycemic impact. Wonderful stuff. This variety of vanilla pod is sweeter than some varieties and a little more perfumy and I'd like to achieve a deeper, richer flavor. If anybody else out there makes their own, please comment with your favorite types of vanilla pods please. If anyone needs a few of these vanilla pods, I do have quite a bit, so email me privately. My price is FAR less than the dried up pods you can find in the grocery stores (if you can find them) and the quality is a lot higher. These are nice and plump and bendy, not dried up. And if you have a different kind of vanilla, I'd be willing to trade with you.

Working on two custom orders, but ones that I need to restock anyway. Celtic Riverdance for men and Love's Mystic Spell. When we get home from our walk, I hope to begin a few more soaps that customers are wanting; after that I will continue work on my website.

Ode to Jasmine

Green Jasmine Jewel in a bath most delightful, her petals unfurl in the wee evening hours into a wisp of ethereal aroma.
There is something mysterious and sensual about the soft persistence of jasmine. You catch a mere whisper outdoors on the night air and you almost want to chase it down, to breathe it in more deeply. That's the feeling I wanted to evoke with my Jasmine Jewel Soap. I initially wanted to make a soft green bar with wisps of white blossom swirls, but I went with yellow and green this time around and used my whisk to make 'blossoms' on the tops of the bars. Things may change on a whim, and I may do it differently next time. The creative process is the fun part of being a soapmaker.

New Spring Soaps

Well I'm happy to say there are at least four of the new Spring Floral Soaps cured and I'm making more every couple of days. Ready to go are Jasmine Jewel, Lovely Lilac, Hummingbird Hibiscus, and Ume Blossom. Although these aren't classified as "all botanical" they each contain beneficial extracts and special ingredients. Lilac, Jasmine and Ume Blossom (Asian Plum Blosom) all have added Silk Protein; Hibiscus is formulated with Hibiscus-infused oils, and contains real Hibiscus Botanical Extract, and dried Hibiscus Petals.




More fun new soaps will be ready for sale in a week or two! Whipped Cream Soaps with assorted fruits embedded- don't have the new pics ready yet but to the left is a pic from a year or two ago when I was making the Berry Delicious Whipped Soaps. This time there will be more kinds- Peaches & Cream, Apple a la Mode, Strawberries & Cream, and Blackberry Vanilla. I might get around to making a few Banana Splits too, just for giggles.

Still hoping to have my website ready but I just can't devote as much time to it as I'd like and there are many more things I want to do with it before I consider it "ready". I'll post a few choices on the temporary page within the next day or so. My Roll In The Clover Soap with RedClover extract and Goatsmilk will be one of the first up.

Valentine's Soaps

Today I'm decorating some Easter & Mother's Day soaps so they will be all ready for Spring. It's coming up fast! We will be featuring some pretty layered soaps in floral scents and several new Botanical creations as well.

For our local customers:
A few Valentine's Soaps were added to the temporary website front page GreenGoddess Herbals so that you may purchase them through the Paypal cart. They are the new Chocolate Truffles (in decorative container), Chocolate Covered Cherry Soap and our always-popular Very Vanilla Soap. Email us if you need additional soaps in other scents.